The development and nature of Chinese communism : the early years, to 1925

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to delineate and analyse the development and nature of Chinese communism from the beginning to the death of Sun Yat-sen. It is divided into two sections. The first section attempts firstly to describe the social milieu in which the founders of Chiiese communism found themselves in at, and just prior to, the time when they embraced communism as their revolutionary praxis. Secondly, this section deals with the reasons for the acceptance of communism as the revolutionary praxis and the resultant actions of this acceptance - the participation in the National Revolution. In the second section, a number of the central issues of Chinese communism pertinent to this period are examined: the communists 1 concept of the collaboration with the Kuomintang, the nature of the national revolution and the role of leadership, and the peasant policies. Finally, as the Chinese leadership embraced communism partly because of their consciousness of the need of a new culture for China, this study concludes with a discussion of the development of the concept of culture by these Chinese communists. While this is not, primarily, ä study of Chinese communist activities nor a comparison between Chinese and Russian communism, a study of the development and nature of Chinese communism cannot exclude discussions in these two aspects. Therefore, to the extent that such discussions will clarify ones perception of Chinese communism, these two aspects are brought into purview. Show more